Novi graduates its young men two ways: from Novi High School, and from Detroit Catholic Central, the Basilian school founded in Detroit in 1928 and now in Novi. Two ceremonies, two colors of gown, and one shared problem underneath. A gown is a tube. It hides a suit that fits and a suit that doesn’t equally well, which is why so many families buy the wrong one in June and find out in July.
The gown is not the audience
Whatever he wears under it, the photographs from the ceremony show a face and a pair of shoes. The suit’s real audience is everyone who sees him in the eight weeks after, without the gown, at close range, in daylight. Buy for those people.
What eight weeks asks
Somewhere between four and ten occasions, most of them family, one of them a first interview. That is not enough wear to justify a wardrobe and it is far too much for a suit that pulls at the button. Navy, plain, and fitted, which is the only part he cannot fix later.
Which boy is he
Ask that before the price. A boy still growing wants an Everyday Classic, $139 to $159, and no apology for it; he will be out of it by Thanksgiving. A boy who has stopped, and who starts somewhere in September that expects a suit on Mondays, wants Signature Wool, $259 to $299. Bring the shoes he will cross the stage in, and Roman, master tailor at Lincoln Tailor, on site in our store, hems to those.
Also for Novi: Three Days on Concrete at the Showplace. More on style consulting, or plan your visit to our Oak Park showroom.
